Bharat Bhatia: From pick-up driver to multi-billion steel magnate in UAE

Gulf News

Full Story Here: https://gn24.ae/8df65f9c7502000 See more at https://gulfnews.com/videos  Everybody looks for inspiration from someone or something to propel their lives. And for Bharat Bhatia it was and is Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan.  In fact if it wasn’t for this actor and his movies, Bhatia said he would not have stepped out of his comfort zone as an 18-year old boy way back in 1983 to work in Dubai.  #RagsToRiches #Inspiration #Success

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone this is Anjana Kumar from Gulf News and with me is Mr. Bharat Bhatia, he's

00:05popularly called the steel man and steel magnet. He has a very interesting story to tell. He came

00:11here years ago back in 1983. He came here as a pickup driver and today he runs a multi-million

00:21dollar business. Well in 1983 I landed here in Dubai coming from a well-to-do family but wanted

00:28to earn my own money and that's what I just took a first step to come and you know establish

00:33myself or come here in Dubai and work for a small hardware shop which was doing welding

00:40electrodes and industrial equipment. That was on 2nd November 1983. Well I was a salesman come

00:46pickup driver writing accounts. My boss in 1983 was also having a readyman garment shop so I used

00:54to help him. I used to start morning at 7 and finish at night 11, 11.30 every day and that's

00:59what's my work. I was not having any specific work profile but I used to do anything and everything.

01:04The first turning point I would say was in 1987. The only request I did to my boss to increase my

01:10salary by 200 dirhams. Maybe he felt that it's too much and I quit the job without having any

01:16idea what I'm going to do and that's where I started venturing into a different direction.

01:22I took another job that also lasted for 6-8 months. With that I landed up opening my own

01:28shop and I would say that 1987 because of the 200 dirhams that was my turning point. We are

01:34basically a second largest steel re-roller in UAE. We employ around 700 peoples today.

01:41The turnover is around 1.2 to 1.5 billion this year and next year we might cross 2.2 to 2.5

01:46billion. We are doing mainly GCC UAE market. We do export all the way to Northern America,

01:52we do Australia, we do Europe and also we do Southeast Asia like Singapore and other countries.

01:56So we are basically a global company. We manufacture steel here and the first and foremost

02:03is our domestic market in GCC market. Other options are for exports for us. Dubai has something to

02:09always offer. It's a land of opportunity I will always tell. I was at the right time at the right

02:15place I would say. But in 1987 when I started my own business I was little bit more focusing on

02:22developing a core business and I was doing ship handling. I used to go on the ships.

02:26I used to deliver the steel engine stores and everything on the ship. I learned a lot in that

02:32process. When I realized that if I can add more value on the industrial equipment to the steel

02:38and this is how it inspired me to go into the steel service center. When I started steel service

02:44center it gave me a reason to believe that I can also become a manufacturer. It was never a plan.

02:49I never planned anything. It was just my gut feeling and my instinct has helped me to you know

02:54reach on to this level what we are today. I would say that as an advice you should believe in

03:00yourself. You should be honest. You should keep your commitments. Never try to be overconfident.

03:07Of course you should be believing your gut feelings and you try to be with your clients. You have to

03:12understand client's problem. So if you are really working on those things and not to change your

03:18core thinking and your core confidence. I think they will definitely be successful. There is no

03:22shortcut. You have to work hard. I would really like to recommend most of the people in UAE who are

03:28running a business particularly in steel. Try to reduce their credit cycle. Try to balance their

03:34risk because this market always has been seeing a lot of problems when they come up into the

03:40longer credit cycle and I know many people have no intention. They have no bad intentions

03:46but because of the circumstances they really get into the situation. Yes everyone needs credit. We

03:51also see that people are asking credit and I can do that not to offer credit because we are

03:56manufacturers. The stockists and traders cannot. They have to extend credit but they should choose

04:00the right customer who to give credit and they should not extend a longer credit. That would I

04:05recommend to our steel fraternity who are in market. This is quite an interesting and inspiring

04:11tale of Mr. Bhatia. You heard his journey. If you know of anyone inspiring enough do let us know.

04:19For full story on Mr. Bhatia log on to www.gulfnews.com. This is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.

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